God is good. While He is perfectly righteous and holy and does not tolerate any sin, He is loving and desires all men to be saved (see 1 Timothy 2:4). And while many of us think that He's primarily out there to punish the wicked and those who commit sin, we have to understand one thing:
God does not delight in the death of the wicked.
"Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:11 MEV)
He Wants All Men to Be Saved
At the opening of this article I mentioned that God desires all men to be saved. Whether a person appears to be kind, slightly bad, moderately evil, terribly evil, or even beyond redemption, we have to realise that, "Certainly, the hand of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save, nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear" (Isaiah 59:1). He is mighty to save (see Zephaniah 3:17).
God doesn't want any person to perish in hell. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God "is patient with us, because He does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance." He really wants all men to be saved. This is why John 3:16-17 says,
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
Why Do the Wicked Die If God Wants Them Saved?
Friends, God is extending such great patience with all of us, but the truth is that our life here on earth is very short and we need to make the right choices while we can. Our lives are like vapour, which quickly pass away in the blink of an eye.
Our salvation has already been paid for by Christ in His precious blood, but we are not automatically saved because He died. We have to realise that being saved by Him requires that we repent of our sin and put our faith in Him. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (see Luke 13:5).
So What Should We Do?
Dear reader, I trust that you understand what I am trying to communicate. God does not want anybody to die in hell away from Him. He sent His one and only Son to redeem us and bring us back to Him to become His sons and daughters, all of us – wicked or not.
Let us, then, ask God to give us the right heart. If we are wicked, let us repent of our wickedness and turn to God. If we know someone enslaved in sin, let us pray for their salvation and share the Gospel with them.
We are God's ambassadors (see 2 Corinthians 5:20). Let us not rejoice in the death of the wicked, but rather rejoice that they will be saved and get to know our Father in heaven.
